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Himouto! Umaru-chan Episode 1 Impressions

I’ve been waiting for this since I checked out the manga online! Himouto Umaru-chan is about a girl named Umaru who is the beautiful, talented, kind girl outside the house. Inside the house however, she turns into a TOTAL DERP who is lazy, whiney, temperamental and an otaku. Her brother is the only one who really sees her hikikomori side. We could all relate to Umaru a bit here because of how much society demands us to fit into certain acceptable moulds and how we’re utterly different in our private lives. To be honest, this says a lot about Japanese society in general but this series takes the social issue and themes to a whole other level of facetiousness for the sake of comedy and entertainment. Still, I find Himouto absolutely charming to watch even though she could come off as a bit overbearing to some fans. I also LOVE Umaru’s voice omg.

To offer up a helpful little definition, the term Himouto comes from the combined word Imouto, which in Japanese means sister and the word Himono onna from the manga Hotaru no Hikari which is the feminine version of a hikikomori. While I initially expected the manga to be a 4-koma kind of set-up, the manga actually progresses in a regular flow of panels. The story basically splits back and forth in the first episode to flush out the details of Umaru’s double life. I can’t believe that Umaru and her best friend Ebina live IN THE SAME APARTMENT, ONE FLOOR APART and Ebina doesn’t know about Umaru’s double life. Holy crap, Umaru is amazing, literally does not study at home but gets perfect grades at school. Everyone is practically in love with her. This girl’s chibi form at home is so cute I could die. I LOVE HER OMG. But she could seriously get into trouble trying to balance her dual personalities. She’s certainly analytical and efficient about this though. I’d really love to recap this weekly for fun. UMARU IS TOO CUTE OMG.